


Tell me

by ciieroo



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Thug Levi, backstories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-03 02:00:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciieroo/pseuds/ciieroo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren becomes fascinated with a new student in his business class, Levi. Levi isn't there to make friends, just to get his life back on track, but this little brat just might be what changes him for the better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The new student

_I can't believe it's the second semester already._ I thought as I walked to my class across campus. To be honest most of this year was a bit of a blur, but what else is to be expected of one's freshman year of college? I hadn't been doing much though. All I really did was homework, if I felt up for it, video games with Armin, which I did almost everyday, and went to classes, if I didn't oversleep and miss them. I tended to do that a lot, being a total and complete night owl. Moring's aren't my thing and they never will be.

I made my way down to tower Maria where my business class was and checked my watch. 20 minutes late..again. Great. I knew my professor didn't tend to care about what time his students showed up, he was getting paid either way, but I knew Mikasa and Armin would get upset with me. What can I say, I like my sleep. Sure some people would say I should just go to bed earlier, well that's easy for you to say, you're probably not as addicted to video games as I am. Though.. I probably shouldn't have scheduled a class at 9 am. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now, right?

Once I was outside the door, I sighed deeply, resting my hand on the door handle. I hated that look that people gave you when you walked into class late. I hesitantly turned the handle and opened the door and sure enough, a number of people turned around to see what idiot kept coming to class late. My head dropped and I stared at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, fearing that they'd all just give me annoyed looks. I had my backpack slung around one arm and I nudged my shoulder so that it wouldn't fall off as I walked down to sit next to Mikasa, who had clearly left an empty seat for me.

She gave me an Eren-you-need-to-try-to-get-to-class-on-time look, as she usually did, and I ignored her, like I usually did. Another sigh found it's way onto my lips, I don't know why she's so worried about me, I came to class didn't I? I sat down and took out a blank piece of paper and a pencil while our professor went about his lecture. I began drawing whatever came to mind when my professor spoke, filling my page with small doodles and figments of my imagination. It was easier for me to remember things if I had images to represent them with. It's always been like that, since I was a kid. I kept a lot of sketchbooks on me in high school and often founf myself drawing in class. Mostly weird pictures of my teachers with one feature standing out. For example, big eyes or a big nose.

Soon enough, my page was starting to look complete, a doodle of a few tropical flowers on the right, and one of Mikasa with big ears on the left. I chuckled a bit and mentally reminded myself to save the picture and give it to her on her birthday. She'd like that, or maybe she'd punch me.. Well there's only one way to find out, right?

About an hour and a half into the 3 hour lecture I placed my elbow on the desk and rested my chin against my hand. I could feel my eyes becoming heavy. Damn. That's what I get for scheduling a class at a time when I'm usually dead asleep. Just as I started to close my eyes and drift off into a deep sleep, the door to the room opened loudly and I could hear someone walking in, fast. Their footsteps seemed to be gettign closer and closer, I could hear the clack of his shoes against the marble floors, it echoed in the big room. No one seemed to pay too much attention, but the sound was starting to bother me, and I turned around to look at him.

He was an older man, well older than me anyways. The man looked almost as if he was in his late twenties, maybe early thirties. His eyes were a beautiful pale blue, though the dark circles around his eyes really took away from the beauty of them. He looked around the room for a place to sit, to be honest we don't have much room in our class, it was pretty big, but it was just his luck that there were 2 seats available. And due to my unluckiness, he sat down in the open seat next to me. Great. I was sitting next to the new student with impossibly loud sounding shoes and what seemed to be an angry or annoyed expression on his face.

He took the satchel from around his shoulder and put it down on the table in front of us, taking out some paper and beginning to write things down. He was kind of mesmerizing. His raven hair hung comfortably over his forehead and though he was shorter than I was, he was quite muscular. I kept looking at him, unable to keep my eyes off, and he began to take notice as his head turned towards me. I couldn't help it! I love art and drawing people, and when I see beautiful and unique subjects, like this man, I stare and I can't stop. When his eyes made contact with mine I almost melted. His eyes were such a gorgeous color, and they looked even better up close. He continued looking at me for a few seconds, raising his eyebrow, I blinked and realized that I'd veen staring for way too long. Cursing at myself, I turned away quicky. The man was probably freaked out that he was being stared at by some random kid. Though, his bored expression told me that he didn't really care.

I knew one thing for sure. I definitely couldn't fall asleep now, even if I tried.


	2. Coffee Shops and Writing Papers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren goes to work, and Levi shows up unexpectedly.

The next day, I had to get up early for work. It was the only thing I'd ever wake up early for, depsite some of the weird customers that occasionally came in and ordered some java-capa-mocha-somethings, I loved my job at the little coffee shop, and it didn't pay bad at all either. Though I'd have to say the best part is my coworkers. They never fail to entertain me, espeically Sasha. I have no idea how she even keeps this job, I mean all she does is steal food and eat it in the break room, but she hasn't been caught yet, and what the boss doesn't know won't hurt him.. right?

I gave a groan as my alarm went off, reaching my hand over and slapping it a few times before my hand finally landed on the snooze button. I rolled out of bed and slowly walked over to my closet to get out my work uniform. I worked at a little coffee shop a few blocks away from campus. I slid on a white t-shirt and black pants before tossing clothes out of my closet to find my jacket. I didn't care how big of a mess it made, I didn't share a dorm with anyone anymore, plus it's not like I minded a bit of a mess, since most of my room was one.

After a few minutes of tossing articles of clothing on the floor I finally found my jacket, laying on the ground under a few hoodies. I picked it up and slid it on, since it tended to be really cold around here, especially during winter. Though, I can't say I hate it, I actually love the cold since I used to go out and build snowmen in the snow with Armin. One time we even tried to build an igloo, but once we got inside of it, the roof started to fall on us and we ran out screaming. I guess you could say we were pretty frightened of cold, tight spaces after that. I smiled a bit at the memory and then made my way to the door and turned the handle, letting myself out.

I stumbled out of my dorm room and put the keys in my pocket, and took out my phone. I carefully unwrapped the headphones that I had swung around the phone a number of times and placed them in my ears. I wasn't going anywhere if I didn't have headphones. It made everythingmore enjoyable, plus I loved walking, listening to music, and just thinking to myself. I truly felt at peace. I unlocked my phone with ease and then opened my Pandora app. I guess listening to my already downloaded music was alright, but I was just listening to the same stuff over and over, and I liked variety. Selecting a radio station was always the hardest part, I was torn between the Imagine Dragons and Sleeping with Sirens raidos so I tapped one of them randomly and began listening. I pushed my hands and phone into my jacket pockets and made my way to the door leading outside.

As soon as I made it outside I regretted not taking a bigger coat. It was freezing out, and after feeling the frozen air on my skin, I can confirm that I was now wide awake. I shivered into my jacket but decided to just keep walking to work. I exposed my hands to the cold for a little bit to zip my jacket up and then qiickly shoved them back into my pockets before they got frostbite, because, yes, it was that cold. It was a peaceful walk I guess, I thought about a few things like what to have for dinner and if Armin got the new GTA game, nothing important really. When the coffee shop came into view, I sighed gratefully and broke into a kind of jog, eager to finally feel warm instead of feeling numb and cold.

Once I made it inside I sighed. The warm air felt good after my freezing walk over. I quickly walked behind the counter and said a quick hello to Marco, who was at the register, taking people's orders, while Sasha was behind him trying to fill those orders. Sasha wasn't the best at making the coffee as she had only just started. I wasn't too good, but I was probably the best out of us three. I walked over to Sasha who wasn't paying attention, all her focus was on the food under the glass. Not that it mattered, the place was pretty empty on days that I worked, mostly because a large amount of people that came in were from our college and it was a Tuesday, most people didn't take classes on Mondays like I did, can't blame them. It's damn hard to wake up on Mondays. 

I walked into the break room for a bit to put my coat away and to get my apron. The break room was pretty small, probably the size of a McDonald's bathroom, but no one really spent much time in there, so it's not like it bothered us at all. I set my coat on one of the chairs back there and then made my way to the small closet and picked up my apron, sliding it over my head and then tying a knot in the back. We also had these little visors that matches out aprons, though no one really wore them unless out boss was coming in, because, really, visors inside? I closet the closet door and then walked back out into the shop, the smell of coffee beans finally hitting me, as Marco was making coffee for a woman that just walked in. 

After she recieved her coffee, she left Marco, Sasha, and I to hang out, since no one was really in there. Over the span of an hour, a few people came in and sat down with laptops, which was how you knew they'd be there for hours and they'd probably order quite a few coffees as well. But those kind of people are what made business's like out flourish. I swear, some people I see are so addicted to their laptops, as if their life depends on it, I can't really say I'm any different, as I actively spend about 10 hours a day on mind but still. I bet a meteor could come crashing down from the sky and hit across the street and they wouldn't notice because they're so obsessed with whatever's on the screen of their macbooks.

Sasha was the one that finally broke the weird silence in the shop, aside from the occasional sips of coffee and taps of people's fingers against the keys of their computers. “I'm going on my break,” She said as she opened the glass to where all of the food was displayed. She took a few lemon pound cakes and gave five dollars to Marco, who giggled and put it in the cash register. Sasha then made her way across to one of our couches and sat down, shoveling the cake in her mouth. I let out a small chuckle, she was never able to control herself around food. Though, this time she actually payed, I wondered if the boss finally realized that they were short on both food and money for the food. I was disturbed from my thoughts when I heard the door open a few seconds later and lazily turned around to see who was coming in.

Holy shit...  
It was the man who sat next to me yesterday in class.. What was he doing here? Well I guess I knew why he was there.. he wanted coffee. But why here? Why when _I_ was working. He made his way to the register, and once again I stared at him. He was wearing black pants that hugged his legs, and dare I say it, ass perfectly and a loose, unbuttoned white shirt under his opened black jacket, he was also holding a laptop case. Of course he was, he looked like the type, to me. He ran a hand through his hair as he ordered his coffee, “Tall black coffee,” He said as he handed Marco some money and for one moment, one amazing, and shocking moment, his eyes looked up and he met my gaze. He must of recognized me because he raised his eyebrow just as he did the day before, causing me to break the stare I had on him.

Marco reached his hand out to give the man his change and he shook his head telling Marco to keep it, and then went on about change being incredibly filthy or something. Was he some kind of clean freak? Marco nodded and then asked for the man's name, in which he replied, “Levi.” His name suited him nicely. Levi. It made my heart beat faster, is that weird? How can the mention of someone's name instantly make you nervous? I have no idea, the feeling was so new to me.. I wondered if I liked him or something, sure I'd liked people before but never someone like him. Someone with such a stoic and bored expression plastered on his face, someone so different from me. I usually liked people more like I was, because it was easier to hang out and talk abut things with them, but him? What was I supposed to talk about with someone that looked like he had nothing to talk about?

Levi made his way over to one of our elevated two-seating tables and pulled his MacBook out of it's case before turning it on and yawning. As he yawned, he covered his mouth and shook his head a bit as tears came to his eyes. He was kinda cute when he yawned, or he looked less like he was going to kill you. Damn what was I doing? Oh right, I was making coffee. I began making it the best as I could when I was nervous and stealing glances at him from where I was working. I reached for one of our glass pitchers which was filled to the brim with his black coffee and began pouring it into a cup for him. I looked up for a split second, no really I swear! As soon as I did, I felt something hot touch my hand and I pulled it away immediately, and looked down. The cup had overflowed and spilled a little. Great job, Eren.

I cleaned it up with a few napkins and poured a little bit of the coffee back inside of the pitcher before pulling out a lid and putting it on then writing Levi's name on the cup. I decided to walk the coffee over to him, as he looked pretty busy and I didn't want to bother him or anything by making him come to me. I walked up behind him and saw that he was writing a paper, he wasn't very far, maybe a paragraph or so in. “Uh.. Levi? Here's your coffee..” I said as I set it down on the table. He reached for it and gave it a sip, noting that it was really full, and hot. His eyes met with mine again for the second time that day and I felt my heart stop.

Okay seriously, why do I feel this way. I've never felt like this before. I don't understand. It's like everything he does makes me nervous. Maybe I just want to please him, am I a people pleaser? I don't know, all I know is that I want him to stop glaring at me and making me feel uncomfortable, I just want him to like me, I guess.

I realized that I had been standing there for a few minutes and immediately thought about how incredibly awakward that was. I was at work and he was a customer. He probably thought I was being really weird and awkward too, though it wouldn't be the first time someone thought that. Though he seemed to be ignoring me and continuing writing his paper for the most part.

I made my way behind the counter again and continued to steal small glances over at him until he finished his coffee and began packing up. My heart began to ache since he wouldn't be here anymore which meant I'd probably get bored again or maybe I'd talk to Marco for a bit. Just being in Levi's presence made me a little happy, and I knew that once he left I'd be left to deal with Sasha, who looked sick in the back from her mass consumption of lemon pound cakes. When he left I sighed and looked down at the ground, a small smile forming on my face at the realization that I had class with him again tomorrow. Though I was disturbed from my happy thoughts as I heard Sasha call out from one of the couches, “Guys.. I don't feel so good,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys c: i finally got this new chapter out. i wanted to write it after i posted the other one but procrastination took over and i ended up writing the whole thing today just to get it in on time. i loved writing Marco in because i love him so much, the hardest part was deciding whether to add in Jean or Sasha, but i decided on Sasha because i know she'd go crazy over the food, so yeah :3 also i wanted to explain that Eren's class is mondays-wednesdays-fridays so he has off tuesdays and thursdays which is when he works. hope you guys like this chapter!


	3. Classes and Studying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Levi have class together again, what will happen when Eren offers to help him study?

My alarm went off and woke me from my deep slumber, it was 8:30, half an hour before my business class with Levi and I wanted to get there early so that I could save a seat for him, well assuming that he would chose to sit next to me again. I rolled out of bed, probably half dead, and pulled on one of the many pairs of jeans that were scattered all over my floor. Yeah... I'm not the most tidy person ever.. I walked over to my closet and pulled out a simple navy blue hoodie and slid it on before moving to slide on my vans as well. I didn't bother to put on socks, as I was much too tired and my mind was still in dream mode. 

I left my dorm, it was kind of lonely, since my roommate decided to leave a month ago, but it's fine, I'm used to the alone feeling. I pocketed my phone and I walked to my class, I still had 15 minutes to get there, so I walked slow. 

By the time I got there, most people had settled into a seat, and I chose one towards the front of the class, and Mikasa and Armin joined me soon after, Mikasa sitting next to me on my right side, and Armin sitting next to her. 

I asked Mikasa for a pen and paper, which she gave me. The class began and our professor began talking about.. whatever he was talking about.. I kind of gave up listening, as most of the stuff he said made no sense to me. Ten minutes later, Levi walked in, clearly not as much of a rush as he was in a few days ago. He took a seat next to me and my heart began to race.  
He soon took out the notes that he had began to take last class and add on to them. As he wrote, I noticed an expression. He wasn't expressionless like he usually was, his brow furrowed like he was confused or frustrated. I wanted to ask him, but I didn't know if I could... After a few minutes, I tapped him on the shoulder. “Are you okay?” I managed to say softly.

He turned to face me, “Yeah, I'm fine, what's it to you anyways?” My eyes widened. I never expected him to be like this. He wasn't entirely rude, but he sure as hell wasn't all that nice. Yet I sort of liked it, he seemed interesting.

“Well.. I just noticed.. you seem to be having a hard time with the notes- er uh.. understanding them anyways...” I replied, trying not to be awkward, though I knew I was being awkward anyways. “I wanted to know if you needed any help or anything...”

“Help? From you? I'm perfectly fine, I don't need some brat trying to help me.” Wait, did I hear that correctly? Did he just call me a brat? I've never had a practical stranger call me a name before.. I don't know how I felt, but I guess it didn't really bother me, I've been called a lot of things.

“I mean.. you missed a whole semester.. it's probably harder for you to understand this stuff.. I could help you catch up. These,” I said as I pointed to his notes, “Would make a lot more sense if you knew what they had to do with.” I could see in his eyes that he was clearly deep in thought. He probably even wondered if he should let me study with him. I mean after all I did stare at him when I got the chance, who knows what the man thought of me.

“Fine.” He finally muttered, “When and where are we meeting.” That was a good question. I had work tomorrow, though I bet I could take off and have someone stand in for me. I wonder if Ymir would come in? I rarely saw her since her and Christa started dating, and I hoped she wouldn't mind covering for me.

“Um what about at my dorm tomorrow? I live in building Sina, room 28.” 

He nodded, “Alright. I'll be over at 10 am. So you better fucking be awake.” 

I was excited, and offered Levi a smile before turning to face the front. I had a study date tomorrow. Wait.. I mean not a date.. unless one would consider that a date.. then.. Well whatever. I'd make sure everything was perfect, starting with my room. I'd probably need an expert cleaning staff to tidy it up..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh i'm so sorry for the lateness! i meant to upload it sooner but i couldn't find the time. so i didn't quite make it clear, but mikasa and eren aren't family here, mikasa's parents are alive, though armin, mikasa, and eren are all childhhod friends. also the line, "I'm used to the alone feeling" & a few more are setting you guys up for what's to come c; i have big plans for future chapters though i'm trying to take it slow and ease everyone into it.


	4. Study Dates and Slippers

I set my alarm to go off at 8 a.m the night before so that I'd have enough time to clean up before Levi got there at 10. I yawned as I rose, though I couldn't focus on how tired I was because I was excited at the thought of Levi coming over. To be honest.. I never thought he'd agree to this kind of thing, but hey, I wasn't going to question it.

I took one look around my dorm room and I groaned. It was such a mess, it would take me forever to clean it. Clothes were scattered on the floor, and I couldn't tell which were dirty and which were clean. The trash can was overflowing with empty cups on instant noodles, which was the only food I could really afford anyways. And my books were spread out on a small table towards the corner of the room, I probably should organize them but I don't have time to do that.. Correction: I don't want to waste my time doing that.

I then hesitantly moved to pick up some of the clothes from the floor, bringing them up to my nose to decide if they were dirty or not. I gave up after about five minutes and then started shoving clothes into my tiny closet, figuring that they were all dirty and that I'd clean them all later. I piled the clothing into my closet apart from a pair of jeans and my University hoodie, which I rarely wore. I then began taking off my shirt and pants before switching into my clothes for the day, afterwards shoving my pajamas into the closet as well, hoping that I wouldn't have to open it at all when Levi came over.

After deciding that the floor of my dorm looked acceptable to walk on, I made my way over to the overflowing trash can. I lifted the trash bag, picking up any cups that fell out and shoving them back in before I tied the top of it up and reached for my keys, pushing them into the front pocket of my dark blue hoodie. Before moving to the door, I slid on my slippers. (I was just heading out to throw away some trash, so I didn't really care that I was going out looking like I hadn't woken up all the way, because let's face it. I hadn't.) Then, I opened the door, pushing the trash out in front of me and then closing it.

I walked outside to the dumpster, which was conveniently located right outside the building. I figured I'd be fine in the winter weather with just a hoodie on, since I'd only be out there for a minute tops. And I was. I ran out, yes ran, and then quickly opened the hood of the dumpster and threw my cheap lunches and dinners away, as if getting rid of evidence of my poverty.

I reached to check for my phone as I quickly walked back inside, patting all my pockets before realizing that I had left it in my dorm. Shit. I needed to know what time it was. It didn't feel like a lot of time had passed since I woke up, but then again I was busy doing things. And let's face it, when you're busy rushing to do things and thinking about god-knows-what, time flies.

I looped my keyring around my finger and span it a bit as I walked back to my dorm. After I was down the hall, looking at the door to my room, I saw Levi standing there, binder in hand, and staring at his watch. Was he early? Or was I late or something? I approached him, not wanting to make eye contact right away, “How long were you waiting?”

“Not long. A minute or so.” He answered back coolly, as his eyes looked me up and down, before stopping on my slippers, “You couldn't even try to make yourself look half decent?” Levi said as he raised an eyebrow at my slippers.

I looked down at them too, seeing a few stains from when I had spilled coffee and noodles on them, “Sorry.. I was uh.. just stepping out for a minute..” I didn't want him knowing that I was cleaning my room for him and that I was just throwing away some of the last bits of my mess.

Wait a second.. I didn't get a chance to organize my books.. What's he going to think of me now, he probably already thinks I'm some weird kid with a huge crush on him. Well I don't know if I would call it a crush.. I mean I'm just kinda interested in him and wanna get to know him better. But I will say that for a guy, he's kind of beautiful, in a non-beautiful way. Did that make sense? He's not the most perfect looking person, and yet he is. It's just something about him.

I wanted to break the silence as it had been clouding around us for a minute or so. “So.. a-are you early? Or..” I said awkwardly as I moved to open the door, sticking my key in and jiggling it around before my door opened itself.

“A little, is that a problem?” There was a little bit of irritability in his voice, and unfortunately I caught it. “I like to arrive earlier than planned. Anyways, I'm only,” He paused for a second and looked at his watch, “15 minutes early.”

“Oh.” I walked in and held the door open for him as he entered as well. Then I moved to close it behind him. I felt like he was staring around so that he could point out something that was wrong with my dorm, and I was half way right.

“Why are your books everywhere? I didn't think you were one to actually study.” That hurt a bit. But I was intrigued, he wasn't wrong. I almost never studied, but how did he know that? Was I that easy to read?

“Uh.. I do sometimes..” I said, trying to defend myself a bit against the man's clearly already made assumptions of me. He gave a slight nod as if not meaning to offend me, or at least that's how I took it.

I moved to the table and stacked my books neatly before dropping them on the ground near my chair. I heard him sigh in the back as he walked over and sat on the chair next to me, dropping his binder on the table and opening it to the notes he had taken last class. We were currently working on marketing in class before Levi came in half way through. “So, business marketing is when you market practices of an organization or an individual so that you can sell products to them and stuff like that,” I stated as I started to remember the lessons that we had.

“God, I know that. Do you think I'm stupid?” He said as he moved a hand to massage his temple. I didn't know how I could have irritated him already, I barely said anything to him.

“Oh.. sorry.. I wasn't sure how far you were and...” I stopped there, not wanting to anger him more, but to my surprise he let out a sigh.

“Sorry, kid. Shouldn't have lost it. Mornings aren't good for me.” I wondered why he asked to come over at 10 then. Maybe he had a job in the afternoon or something. Now that I see him better, he does look a lot older than me. Maybe late twenties? Though he could always look old for his age. “I just need to know if the professor went over how to get started in it.” He finally said after taking a long pause.

“Yeah.. he went over it a little bit. I think he'll go into it more later though.. But I could tell you what he told us.” He nodded and the stoic expression on his face let up a bit, as I could see him relaxing in his seat more, leaning back and crossing his arms.

I began talking about getting started in business marketing, and let me tell you I talked for a while. I'll spare you the boring details, don't worry. Though Levi did take a lot more notes so that he could add them to his current notes. After I finished speaking my mouth felt really dry, so I made my way over to my mini-fridge which resided under my desk, and took out a bottle of water. “Do you want a water?” I asked, as he had been here a while and hadn't asked for anything. He gave a slight nodding gesture and I got a second one, bringing it over to the table and setting it down in front of him. I took a few sips to get my throat at least half moist before I attempted to speak again, “So uh..”

“This was helpful. Thank you.” I nodded and noticed how it was difficult for the 'thank you' part to come out. Almost like it pained him to say it. As much as I hated studying, it was actually pretty enjoyable when I studied with Levi.

“This was.. nice.” I said awkwardly, mentally slapping myself at how corny it sounded. "I mean uh.."

He cut me off. “It wasn't as terrible as I thought it'd be.”

“We should study again some other time..” My eyes widened and I almost slapped a hand over my mouth. That wasn't supposed to come out. I was thinking it, sure. But I didn't mean to say it. I felt my face get hot, and I knew that I was probably blushing like an idiot, hoping that Levi wouldn't notice how red my face was. But to my dismay, he did.

“I suppose I could consider that,” He said as he stood up and picked up his binder after putting his new notes inside. He then looked for a paper and scribbled something down before folding it and leaving it on my table. “If you want to study again, you can call. But don't use it for stupid calls or texts.” He mumbled before he walked over to my door and left.

I grabbed the paper that he left and opened it up. A phone number was scribbled on it and my heart started pounding abnormally fast. He gave me his number. Sure, he told me not to use it unless we were planning to study again but it was a start. I guess one could call us friends? Or maybe just acquaintances. Either way, this morning couldn't have gone better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow. so sorry i updated a few days late, it was so close to christmas and i had some last minute stuff to do. but i wanted to get the new chapter in before christmas day so here you go :3 i had to do research on business marketing (thank you google) and i made this chapter longer than the other ones to make up for not posting sooner. also if things go to plan i'll write up a new chapter by sautrday. so yeah (: have a lovely christmas, all x


	5. Video games and Armin

The rest of my Thursday was spent with Armin, locked up in his dorm playing video games. We chatted a bit about random stuff while we played, like what we thought about class and Jean's hair. Yeah, Jean's hair. I know it's kind of weird to be talking about it but seriously. A few months ago he was so proud because he successfully dyed the top part of it a lighter brown and then he buzzed the bottom part. It took some getting used to, I won't lie, but it still looks kinda weird to me. Marco seems to think it looks pretty bad too, but he won't ever admit it, he's too sweet to say something so mean to his boyfriend. But that's alright since Armin and I do it for him while he laughs at our comments.

I sat back and set the conroller in my lap after we'd finished our game level, blinking my eyes because damn I was staring at the tv for too long. Armin set his controller down too and rested back against his bed, laying down and staring up at the roof. "I have a headache," He finally muttered as he moved over to his mini-fridge and pulled out a can of red bull.

"You know.. I think it'd be better if you had water." I suggested, knowing that Armin was too addicted to energy drinks and water would probably be better for his headaches.

"Nah, I'm good." He replied as he opened the can and took a long sip from it. I sighed and shot him a concerning look, he ignored it at first then gave in and mumbled a, "Fine." Before putting the opened red bull back in the fridge and pulling out a water bottle, tossing me one as well. I thanked him and took a sip, if felt pretty good. Do you ever think you're not thirsty and then you drink water and you finally realize how thirsty you atually are? Well that person was me in that moment. I quickly drank the water, not being able to get enough. Armin took notice and asked me if I was okay several times before I nodded back to him. After a few minutes, I finished the water, feeling better than I had before, except for my stomach. It growled worse than our mascot. We're the Rose University Titans, and man can that mascot roar. It's really loud and it gets real annoying real fast. 

My mind started to go off on it's own as we sat in silence. I thought about class tomorrow and then I thought about Levi. God. I didn't understand why I thought of him as much as I did. He was literally some new breed of jerk, though he was interesting to me. My head turned to look at Armin, he was sitting on the bed, arms behing him, supporting his weight, and legs crossed in front of him. "What do you think about that new guy in our business class?" I asked. For the record, I don't know what possessed me to say that, I wasn't planning to talk to Armin about it, it just kinda came out. Though, I can't say I regreted it. He looked down at the beanbag I was sitting on and then me. 

"You mean that guy that looks like he's going to kill everyone?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

His eyes moved off of me and then moved to stare at the paused game in front of us. I could tell he was thinkign hard about something, as he always got this look on his face when he was deep in thought. "Why? Do you like him or something?" My heart raced how could I not know that Armin was going to say that. He was always quick, but I didn't think he'd come to a conclusion so fast.

I paused for a few minutes, unsure of what to say because I didn't know myself what the answer really was. "I don't know. He looks interesting, and he's kind of beautiful, I guess." I finally said. Beautiful. Yeah, he was. His face, his features, his eyes. Everything was so perfectly put together, as if he was sculpted by angels. 

To my relief, he ignored my comment about his beauty and started laying some facts down on me. "He looks a lot older than you." I knew that was going to come up eventually. Why should age matter, though? It's like a video game. Every level you beat, you level up. That's just was age is, it's a level up. Every year that passes you gain a level and experience. It keeps you ready for future battles, making you both wiser and stronger. Levi's not older than me, he's just been playing the game longer than I have.

"So what? You dated Erwin and he was like twenty years older than you." My mind and mouth worked together on that one. I didn't want to say it, I know Armin regretted dating Erwin since it caused lots of problems with his family. One of them being that he was gay. 

"That was two years ago. Besides, I learned my lesson." And he had. It turned out that Erwin was 'dating' a lot of people. Which was kind of to be expected since he and his wife had just gotten divorced. I don't know all the details, not that Armin does either, but it had something to do with him hooking up with another guy when he thought his wife was at work. Long story short, she had taken the day off and she was very shocked when she came back from the store.

I nodded and played with my empty bottle, squeezing the plastic with my hands and then setting it down a few minutes later. I didn't know what to say nex, I knew I shouldn't have brought Erwin up, I just hoped that Armin wouldn't get mad and go off on me. "He's really out of your league."

I looked back up at him and raised my eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Well I mean, you and him look like two different people. You look approachable and nice, whereas he looks cruel and sadistic." 

I laughed a little bit. I couldn't help it! He had just called a man he didn't know a sadist. "Why do you think he's a sadist?"

He shrugged and looked up at the roof, "I don't know, you can just tell. You can see it in his eyes, there's something dark about that guy. I'm just taking guesses."

I had to admit that I saw something kind of dark and mysterious about him, but I never put much thought into what. And clearly, Armin had put a bit of thought into it, himself. I wonder if he does that with everyone, tries to figure them out before he meets them. "Maybe he's some kind of spy on a mission from hell."

A few seconds after he said that, my hand quickly met my face. I guess I shouldn't have facepalmed that hard, because I actually hit my nose, and it felt all weird. "Yes, Armin. He's a spy."

"Hey, you never know." He said, picking up the controller as he did. "Can we get back to the game now?"

I picked up my own and held it out in front of me. "Yeah, yeah. I'm ready to kick your ass again."

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say." He started the game again and we were off. Ignoring the rest of the world except for the monsters in the game. One thing ran through my head as we played, though. I was damn excited to see Levi in class the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh i'm so sorry for not updating for over a month! i've had the WORST case of writer's block and to be honest, i had almost no plans for what i wanted to do with this story, but now i do! muaha, i'm ready to write again! also, i have been editing the other chapters a bit, i can't really remember what i changed and added, i don't think you need to reread but i'm not sure. anyways! i'll probably go back to updating once a week, or once every week and a half.

**Author's Note:**

> haii :3 i hoped you liked the first chapter to this story, it's kinda short but the chapters will get longer as the story progresses. i'll be posting new chapters every week most likely on saturday. so yeah c:


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